We moved from Pasadena to Vegas with 6 month old twin boys. This is our story.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Crying on the plane is not kosher?

We still have so much etiquette to learn about being the parents of two small boys.

We recently had a big adventure traveling to Pittsburgh to visit my husband's family. The flight out went great. The boys took their scheduled naps on the plane and slept for almost two hours. We really thought we had this traveling thing down.

We left early for the airport the day of our departure to visit downtown Pittsburgh and see some sights. The boys took brief naps in the car, but we weren't worried- our flight was around their second nap so they were sure to get good ones in on the plane. When we got to the airport we discovered our flight was delayed almost two hours. That was going to be a problem. The boys were already tired from a poor first nap and due for their second nap.

We started to feel a little panic. What was going to happen. Would they make it until the flight, would they take small naps before the flight and be awake the whole flight? We tried to keep them awake so they would sleep on the plane. Mistake!

Baby B feel asleep 15 minutes before we boarded the plane. We were not able to keep him asleep while boarding the plane. Unfortunately, Baby B quickly recharges and after that 15 minutes he felt no need for another nap. We got the boys settled and the take-off was without incident.

However, shortly into the flight the boys became very fussy. They were both so tired and needed to take a nap. Great, right? Well, our boys often cry for a few minutes before sleep (and sleep very well), but apparently letting your baby cry on a plane is not kosher. Everyone kept looking at us to see what we were doing to stop our babies crying. We tried to shush them, feed them, play games - but each only worked for a short period of time. I tried to rock Baby B in my lap- but they are used to falling asleep in their cribs, not our arms and all he wanted to do was play or flirt with the ladies on the plane.

While everyone on the plane was friendly and offered advice or tried to entertain the boys- all they needed to do was cry themselves to sleep- which we learned is not allowed. I will admit- I was one of those people staring at the parents of a crying baby on the plane and I guess not I get my dues.